Timestamps Formatting

Time/Date Styles

The iOS platform provides four different default types of date and time styles:

  • SHORT is completely numeric.
  • MEDIUM is longer and contains the first 3 letters of the month.
  • LONG is longer and contains the full month name.
  • FULL specifies the complete time and date.

iOS examples:

  • SHORT 12/13/52 or 3:30 PM
  • MEDIUM Jan 12, 1952
  • LONG January 12, 1952 or 3:30:32 PM
  • FULL Tuesday, April 12, 1952 AD or 3:30:42 PM PST.

The Messaging Library uses default styles. Each feature has its own style. The style is flexible and adapts the ‘locale’ configuration of the device.

Example: US locale SHORT date is displayed as “9/25/16”, whereas Japanese locale SHORT date is displayed as “2016/9/25”.

A specific ‘locale’ which is different from the device locale can be set through the language and country configurations.

Example: country: String?, language: String?

Time/Date formats

It is also possible to configure a specific format for time and date instead of style.

If the host app has configured its own formatting, this formatting will be used instead of style (and therefore will not be affected by ‘locale’).

To configure the formatting by the host app, three configurable formatting resources have been added: For date only (separator):

  • lpDateFormat: String? For time only (bubble’s timestamp & off hours time in case of today/tomorrow):
  • lpTimeFormat: String? For date & time together (resolve message & off hours time in case of other date):
  • lpDateTimeFormat: String?